The Smallest Touch
by AutisticKogayne
Summary: Written for Adrinath August Day 8: Touch. Wherein Nathaniel is injured and Adrien finds his soulmate.


_It had started with nothing more than a brush of the hand._

Nathaniel jumped when the bell rang, pencil skittering across the page and messing up the drawing he had been working on for the past twenty minutes. With a sigh, he shook his head, shutting the notebook and packing it up with the rest of his stuff.

 _It was a complete and total accident._

If he had been paying attention, he would've noticed the pencil bag that had fallen out of Marinette's bag and was lying in the middle of the walkway, but since he wasn't, he instead stepped on it, prompting it to slide out from under his foot and send him crashing to the floor.

 _But you know what they say about accidents, don't you?_

"Oh gosh, are you okay Nathaniel?" Marinette asked, turning from where she had been talking to Alya and rushing to his side, Alya, Nino, and Adrien right behind her.

Nathaniel blinked a few times, eyes focused on the ceiling as he tried to think. His back hurt a little from where he had hit the ground, and while it felt like the wind had been knocked out of him, the most pressing thing seemed to be his head, which throbbed where it had smashed into the ground.

"Uh guys? Is that blood?" Nino asked, pointing at the bit of red that seemed to peek around the edge of Nathaniel's hair.

Marinette gasped, hands flying to cover her mouth as Adrien leaned forward to check, brushing Nathaniel's hair aside.

"Yeah, he's definitely bleeding, and he still hasn't responded. You should probably go get a teacher or the nurse. I'll stay here." Adrien said, looking over his shoulder as Nino nodded, wrapping an arm around Alya's shoulders and guiding her and Marinette out of the room.

When the two of them were alone, Adrien turned back to the redhead on the ground, noticing that he seemed incredibly focused on the classroom ceiling.

"Nathaniel, can you hear me?" He asked, pulling his bag off of his shoulder and setting it aside, waiting for a reaction.

Nathaniel blinked twice more before inclining his head slightly, hissing with a wince when the pressure shifted on the back of his head.

"What happened, and why does my head hurt so much?" He asked, one hand reaching back to try to touch it, stopped by Adrien grabbing his wrist, a quick shock running up his arm from the feeling.

"You slipped on Marinette's pencil bag and fell. You've been out of it for a few minutes and your head might be bleeding a little, so Nino and them went to get a teacher or the nurse."

Nathaniel seemed to accept the explanation, relaxing back with a sigh. After a moment, he turned back, raising an eyebrow at Adrien.

"Why did you stay behind if they went to get a nurse?" He asked, looking down and noticing that his wrist was still being held by Adrien.

"Oh, I didn't know what the proper protocol for a person with a concussion was, but I didn't think you should be left alone, just in case." Adrien responded, letting Nathaniel's wrist go with a slight grimace.

Nathaniel simply hummed in response, eyes sliding closed before Adrien reached out, patting his cheek. When the redhead opened them and turned to the model, the boy gave a sheepish smile, hand raising to rub the back of his neck.

"Sorry, but I read that people with concussions need to be kept awake, and I didn't want you passing out before the nurse comes."

Nathaniel frowned slightly, eyes flicking between the boy next to him and the ceiling. After a few moments of awkward silence, Nathaniel huffed and reached a hand out, grabbing Adrien's arm, relaxing at the warmth that spread up his arm and through his chest at the touch.

"Nath? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just…," He trailed off, eyes darting away from Adrien's face as his cheeks reddened, hand squeezing the model's arm anxiously.

Adrien's face softened as he reached up and grabbed the other boy's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze and delighting at the way the flush across Nathaniel's cheeks seemed to darken. Humming, Adrien looked down at their joined hands, jerking slightly when he noticed the new mark that adorned his wrist.

"Adrien?" Nathaniel asked, turning to see the shock painted across the other boy's face, "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Adrien opened and closed his mouth a few times before holding up his wrist, showing Nathaniel the black circle with three smaller circles inside, one of which was red, another was blue, and the last was yellow.

Nathaniel gaped at the mark for a moment before reaching for his right sleeve, pulling it up to reveal the small black cat that hadn't been there before.

The both of them sat in silence for a few moments, Adrien running his fingers over his mark as he tried to think of what to say. When he finally decided, he opened his mouth and was promptly cut off by Nathaniel.

"My soulmate is the pun-loving, leather wearing, catboy superhero who saves Paris." He said, turning a deadpan expression to the blond by his side.

"Hey, it's not leather!" He yelled, pausing as his shoulders slumped and he pulled his fingers away from the mark. "Are you upset that it's me?"

Nathaniel shook his head, raising his wrist so he could look closer at the mark, noticing the way the cat seemed to be smirking, one paw raised to it's face.

"No, I'm not upset. It's just...a little weird? I guess I just never thought my soulmate would be someone like you." At Adrien's raised eyebrow, Nathaniel gave an odd half smile before squeezing Adrien's hand, "I don't mean that in a bad way, I just meant you're you Not only are you a famous model, the smartest kid in class, and the kindest person I've ever met, you also save Paris on a near daily basis. I don't know how I'm supposed to compete with that."

Adrien chuckled, raising Nathaniel's hand to his face, laying a series of small kisses on his knuckles.

"I'm pretty sure we're soulmates, not soul rivals Nath. I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to compete."

Nathaniel rolled his eyes, but smiled back at the blond, adjusting his hand so their fingers were intertwined. The quiet seemed more comfortable now, only broken by Adrien's sporadic humming as he rubbed the back of Nathaniel's hand with his thumb.

The peace was broken by the classroom door slamming open, Mr. Damocles rushing in with Nino, Alya, and Marinette right behind him. Adrien jerked at the shock, but kept his fingers intertwined with the redhead's, tuning out the principal as he checked on Nathaniel, making sure the boy would be okay for a few more minutes before leaving, telling them he was going to call for an ambulance and would be back as soon as they arrived.

Nino watched the way Adrien kept his eyes on Nathaniel, on how their hands hadn't separated throughout to whole ordeal, and how Nathaniel turned back to Adrien every time he answered one of Mr. Damocles' questions, and with the smallest of smirks, he grabbed Alya and Marinette, steering them out of the room with assurances that the other two would be fine without them.

 _All the best things in life are accidents. After all, there is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment._

And as Nino peeked over his shoulder, watching the two smile and laugh quietly, hands still intertwined, he realized that the two of them were meant for each other, so with a smile, he shut the door behind him, leaving the two lovebirds to themselves.


End file.
